‘It frustrates me how long the industry takes to innovate’

The senior project manager at Mitchell McDermott on the value of CIOB membership and the attraction of a career in construction.

You were an extremely high-achieving student – first class degree in construction management; awards for excellence; and merit for your post-grad in project management. Was construction industry a calling?

I started working in construction from an early age in the family company that my grandfather, Michael Lynch started over 60 years ago. As soon as I was old enough, I was working on building sites. I was lucky enough to work on a vast variety of sites at an early age.

This experience was valuable when I went to college in Limerick IT as I understood how construction worked. Experience in construction cannot be taught out of text books and I am a true believer that real life experience is helpful for anyone considering a career in construction.

You give a lot of your time to the CIOB. You were a team leader in the Student Challenge in and now involved in Novus. Why?

I first took part the CIOB Student Challenge in my second year in college and I really enjoyed it. I loved the real-life project aspect of the challenge. We had to to figure out the issues on the project and prepare mitigation plans for the risks.

I enjoyed being put under pressure and working as a team with my class mates. I liked it so much I took part in it the following two years. This gave me an introduction into the CIOB which I feel has been very valuable in my career to date.

Since graduating I have continued my involvement and I am now the vice chair of the CIOB Novus Dublin and hope to influence young people into the CIOB like I was when I was a second year student.

What do you love about this industry? And what frustrates you?

What I love most is how diverse the people are. There are so many different people with varied backgrounds and knowledge banks. I enjoy meeting and working with new people and learning from others’ experience.

What frustrates me is how long it takes for the industry to innovate, especially when you compare the construction industry to other industry’s such as aviation, tech and manufacturing. These other industries implement new technologies and innovative ideas much quicker than the construction industry. There are still buildings being designed in 2D in Ireland.

What’s your favourite way to spend free time? 

I follow Clare Hurling and Munster and Ireland in Rugby. I also play golf at weekends and enjoy socialising with friends.